


if you fall

by flyby



Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn
Genre: Community: khrfest, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-10-05
Updated: 2010-10-05
Packaged: 2017-10-12 10:57:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,866
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/124146
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flyby/pseuds/flyby
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She tries to hide it, but of course Mukuro-sama notices.</p>
            </blockquote>





	if you fall

**Author's Note:**

> For khrfest round IV. Prompt: _Mukuro/Tsuna/Chrome – seduction; "I will teach you how it's done."_ Title from the song by Azure Ray.

**_if you fall_ **

She tries to hide it, but of course Mukuro-sama notices, in the same way that he notices every other insignificant thing about her. Her distaste for sweet pickles, the shrill beeping of one of Ken's games that gives her a headache, her tiny habit of breathing in the warm and faintly chemical scent of the clean clothes as she folds them at the launderette; all these things he shares with her, a silent thread of presence in the back of her mind. Only rarely do the minutiae of daily life stir his interest, but she can feel his awareness sharpen whenever she interacts with the Vongola.

She's checking on Boss – it's summer, so they are nominally out of classes, but Tsuna is attending summer school again this year – crouched in the window of the classroom and wrapped in an illusion of blue skies and a gentle, silent breeze. Boss is slumped in his chair, looking very bored and as though he has been tugging on his hair again; Chrome thinks that might be why it always sticks up so badly. He starts a little when the teacher calls on him, and Chrome can feel her mouth tilt up into a tiny smile that's as invisible as the rest of her when he gives a correct answer. He looks so surprised.

Mukuro-sama's presence stirs lazily in the back of her mind, and Chrome blinks, her eyes tracing the soft lines of Tsuna's tentative smile by themselves as her attention focuses obediently inwards.

 _My cute little Chrome_ , he whispers to her, a hint of something like laughter in his mental voice. _Is that how it is?_

 _Mukuro-sama_ , she murmurs, not quite a protest, a little thread of embarrassment running through her that he picks up on, amusement – or at least what she has come to think of as amusement – colouring his touch on her mind. As always, he hears what she cannot put words to.

 _Come, is it really so difficult?_ he asks, and when she hesitates she can feel reality beginning to flex and warp around her as his power cocoons her. _Here, let me show you..._

Without her volition, her legs swivel and she slides lightly down into the classroom that's shifting and solidifying, Tsuna suddenly the only occupant.

"Eh? Ehh?!" Boss looks about frantically, stumbling to his feet. "What – where...?!"

"Boss," Chrome's mouth says without her permission as her feet carry her a few tentative steps towards him. He whips around to stare at her, blinking in what she thinks must be mingled relief and apprehension.

"Chrome-san? Did you – ah, is everything all right?"

"Mm." Chrome's head nods, fractionally. Mukuro-sama stills her legs once they have carried her close enough that she can look up at Boss from beneath her lashes. Phantom hands smooth her muscles into shape, guiding her to clasp her hands behind her back, lean forward a little towards him. _Like this_ , the voice murmurs in her mind, and the impressions that go along with it startle Chrome into blushing. Mukuro-sama lets her, and she thinks she senses approval.

"I... just wanted to see Boss," her voice says in a tiny murmur, and she feels her lips curve slowly up into a seemingly-hesitant smile. "You've been studying hard...?"

"Ah..." Tsuna rubs the back of his head, and Chrome realises with a little shock that he is blushing too. She pulls back a little, trying to cede more control to Mukuro-sama, but he won't let her, his presence remaining nothing more than a gentle guiding whisper. Chrome squeezes her fingers together behind her back, uncertain, and looks hopefully to Tsuna for guidance.

"Boss?"

"Ah, that is... it's good to see Chrome-san again," Tsuna says, all in a rush, and she can hear the distant echo of Mukuro-sama's laughter as she blushes again, smiling for herself this time. Her feet, unbidden, take another couple of tiny steps toward him.

"Ah! How – how is Mukuro-kun?" Tsuna blurts out, hurried, easing backwards a little. Chrome blinks, and then her mouth is answering for her again, a ghostly flutter of his voice in her throat though it emerges in her own soft tones, breathy.

"He... he misses you too, Boss."

"...Um." Tsuna looks a little horrified, but recovers himself admirably. It's another way that he's grown since she's known him – _Or_ , Mukuro-sama suggests, _he's become somewhat too used to being shocked._ "Ah, I... suppose it has been a while. Chrome-chan, you're well, though?" He doesn't seem to have noticed that slip in his honorifics.

"Yes, Boss." Chrome nods, quietly delighted behind the wide-eyed smile Mukuro-sama is teasing from her face. Her eye is fixed on Tsuna's; it feels a little forward, but Mukuro-sama is a solid and reassuring mental presence behind her own; here in their world, it feels as though if she turned her head she could catch a glimpse of him.

"That's good." Tsuna beams at her, and Chrome tilts forward under Mukuro-sama's encouragement, her hands sneaking around to rest lightly on his arm.

"Boss..."

"Chrome-chan...?" Tsuna looks a little mystified, but his eyes on hers are warm brown and honest. It sends a little thrill through her, and she tilts her head up a little – just her, all her, though Mukuro-sama murmurs fond approval. Tsuna is blushing again, but he doesn't pull away.

"Boss is... very important to us," Chrome's voice whispers, and when she tilts back a little, he follows the motion, rocking a few degrees towards her.

"Ah... Chrome-chan – everyone! Everyone is very important to me, too," Tsuna blurts, fiery-cheeked and gaping a little. Chrome squirms a little, mentally, though Mukuro-sama smooths her body to stillness, caught between the need to back away and the desire to press forward.

"It's nice of Boss to say so," Mukuro-sama murmurs through her lips, teasing their corners up into a tiny smile. His touch on her mind is soothing as an image floats before her inner eyes; her body in diffident but eager lines, a blush painting her cheeks rose as her eye sparkles wide and dark, her lips parted. Chrome startles, pulling back instinctively; she looks almost wanton, and surely it must be his illusions; she can't really look like that, can she?

 _This is how he sees you_ , Mukuro-sama murmurs, his touch coiling more securely around her mind, guiding her body gently forward again. _Like everything else I have taught you, my Chrome, timing is all. Timing, and suggestion..._

"Boss," her lips murmur, so close to Tsuna's that she can clearly see the hazy desire that has subdued the wariness in his eyes. She can feel his warmth, the way it melds and feeds into the dreamlike world they have woven, the way their edges are blurring a little, at the limits of her senses. He is the Sky and they are the Mist; she understands this, the way their power colours his as his embraces them.

It's a long, long moment, poised on the edge with Mukuro-sama's amusement clear and warm in the dark spaces of her mind. Just when Chrome starts to think that perhaps Mukuro-sama has misjudged the timing (and his amusement sharpens at that, though she thinks he concurs), Tsuna breaks the moment, eyes dark gold on hers as he sways towards her. Chrome's body rises to meet him, her heels lifting off the floor as her hands settle feather-light on his shoulders and her lips meet his.

It's so warm. That's all she can think; Mukuro-sama has withdrawn, a little, as though to cradle her supportively as she parts her lips beneath Tsuna's tentative kiss. It's so warm, so alive, even in this world of fragments and nothings.

Abruptly, startlingly, Tsuna breaks the kiss, backing away with sudden panic in his eyes. "Chrome-chan! I'm sorry, I shouldn't have...!"

Chrome lets her hands drop from his shoulders, clasping them in front of her for want of anywhere else to put them. "It's okay," she says, and the words are all her own because Mukuro-sama has withdrawn a little. "I don't mind." Actually it's rather the opposite; the taste of him is imprinted on her lips, calm and protective and stronger than even he knows. This is a moment she will take back with her, lock safely in a corner of her mind to treasure.

"Ah." Tsuna blinks at her, the horrified blush fading as he cocks his head, eyes narrowing in momentary puzzlement before widening in horror. "Wait – M-Mukuro?!"

"Mukuro-sama is here too," Chrome says, honestly and quietly, "but... this is me."

"...Oh." Tsuna scrubs at his head, some of the panic fading, but he still looks a little rattled. "Chrome-chan... are you... that is, I mean..."

"Yes." Chrome nods a little, ducking her head. "I... I like Boss very much. Is that... okay?"

"Eh?!" Tsuna stares at her as though she's grown a second head. "Um. I-I guess so? I mean! I'm flattered, Chrome-chan, b-but maybe in the middle of class isn't the best time?"

"Oh." Chrome bites her lip, considering that. Despite Mukuro-sama's laughter in the back of her mind, she thinks she agrees with him. "Maybe... maybe I could come and see you another time, then? Mukuro-sama would like that too, I think."

"He would?!" Tsuna flails again for a moment, but gets hold of himself remarkably quickly, visibly squaring his shoulders. "Um, I guess that wouldn't be – maybe?" he finally blurts, face red as he looks anywhere but at her, takes a deep breath. "I mean, you're Family, right? You're both my Guardians. So it's all right." There's something of that serene golden fire in his eyes, lurking beneath the honest hopeful gaze; Chrome shivers, and in the back of her mind Mukuro-sama all but purrs, a heavy and dangerous interest.

"Um, Chrome-chan?" Tsuna looks around bemusedly. "C-could you maybe... put the classroom back now? I probably shouldn't miss too much of the lesson..."

Chrome blinks at him, then backs away a little, looking around. Though it looks like the same classroom, it's very much Mukuro-sama's world, the walls of the room distant and wavering as she stands at the epicentre of his influence. "Um. Okay." She screws up her brow, concentrating, and reaches out for control of the illusion.

There's a moment of hesitation before Mukuro-sama cedes to her, withdrawing back to wherever it is he goes when he's not sharing her senses, and she closes her eyes as reality wavers around her. "I'll see you later, Boss."

When she opens her eyes, slowly as though awaking from a dream, she's again perched in the window, cloaked in her comfortable illusion as she watches the class. She blinks a little, yawning behind her hand and watching Tsuna start as the teacher calls on him again. Maybe, she thinks, he's grown better at concealing surprise or shock; Mukuro-sama is right that he's had enough practice. Then again, if there's one thing she knows it's that reality is as _he_ makes it.

Settling down in the embrace of the window, Chrome smiles to herself a little, raising tentative fingers to her lips. For all that she knows his nature too well for naivety, Mukuro-sama will always be there to watch over her dreams.


End file.
